The Elephant's Child Quotes

“I Keep Six Honest Serving Men ..."

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.

But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant's Child

“Then the Kolokolo Bird said with a mournful cry, "Go to the banks of the great, grey-green greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant's Child